Hello Mike!
Saturday March 28 1998 23:00, Mike Ruskai wrote to Jonathan Michaels:
 MR > Some senseless babbling from Jonathan Michaels to Mike Ruskai
 MR > on 03-28-98  17:23 about motherboards and os/2...
ahhhh, somebody has seen through my tactics, i'd better change stratagy .. 
what
will i do NExT .. grin.
 JM>>> are thier any real problems that i should look out for ?
 JM>>> or would a gigabyte motherbopard have been better ? well
 JM>>> for my next 486 failure i may get a gigabyte and a cyrix
 JM>>> k6 or something like that.
 MR >> I've got a Tyan Tomcat motherboard in my BBS machine, and
 MR >> a Supermicro P6SLA in this machine.  I'd choose Supermicro
 MR >> over Gigabyte any day.
 JM>> any particular reason, other thn personal preferance ?
 MR > I've never heard someone complain about a Supermicro board, and
 MR > have heard many endorsements.  I have seen problems with
 MR > Gigabyte boards.
no small wonder, the price difference (here) alone must indicate some corners
wer cut on the gigabyte.
 MR >> PS/2 mice and keyboards were designed by IBM.  OS/2 works
 MR >> quite happily with both.  In fact, OS/2's PS/2 mouse
 MR >> support is much better than its serial mouse support.  The
 MR >> cursor moves much more quickly across the screen.
 JM>> that would be an added bonus .. i will keep that in mind, i
 JM>> am now a 25 year veteran of keyboards and every day i use
 JM>> one i get onday closer to getting the dreaded rsi. this is
 JM>> why i detest the the microsoft mouse system .. this has
 JM>> been proven to not just cause rsi but ti severly agrivate
 JM>> existing conditions. mice started out as three
 JM>> button beasties and their was no double clicking involved .
 JM>> microsoft need to differentiate thier ice from everybody
 JM>> else, so the droped a key and introduced the concept of
 JM>> double clicking, and the drs have been thier freinds ever
 JM>> since.
 MR > Not quite.  Double-clicking was always there.
not in my short experience, i only go back some twenty-five years, so a 
ittle
clarification, in the environments that i came from, tandem and hp mainframe,
before that it was qnx (and q windows) before that it was os-9, before that 
t
was the local university (using switches 64k of core and hollerith, that is
punched cards) and studying how computer systems might develop and what 
earthly
use they might possibly be to anyone but those engaged in serious researsh .. 
i
know a few people who are kicking themselves now because they didn't follow 
p
on thier ideas a few short years ago (about 20), right about now they would 
e
making bill gates look like he was in a sandpit building castles in the air.
ah, but that was then and this is now, life can be so perverse sometimes.
 MR >   In any case, I
 MR > can understand a desire to avoid mice.  I personally would
 MR > prefer a means of using the keyboard exclusively.
in os/2 and x windows and xfree86 for os/2 it is possible to be rodent free,
well if you need fractal designer to earn a living, it would be a touch hard,
grin.
 MR >   I even bought
 MR > one of those Lexmark-made IBM-brand keyboards that has a
 MR > built-in little trackball over the cursor keys.  It doens't move
 MR > the right very well, so it's kinda useless.
mine predate those not so bright idea versions, the thinkpad ones work
brillantly i don't know what happened to the 'full sized' versions.
ps, it could be grunge buildup on the roller underneath.
 MR >> I've been using old IBM clicker keyboards forever.  Can't
 MR >> stand those new types (with or without Win95 keys - it's
 MR >> the backslash placement that's important).
 JM>> well thier is that issue but for me the key press is all
 JM>> important, a good keyboard will push back when you press
 JM>> the keys, it should have wieight so that it reamins stable
 JM>> in your lap or on the desktop. it should well built so that
 JM>> is doesnt flex while in use, as a keyboard or a lever to
 JM>> jimmy open the doors in winter when they freeze up the
 JM>> hinge (grin). i've been fortunate in that i have allways
 JM>> used 'quality mainframe' terminals and they have always had
 JM>> excellent keyboards. i only used one pc clone keyboard once
 JM>> .. only because this persin insisted on a cheap system ..
 JM>> and couldn't understand why a keyboard could cost $aud650
 JM>> (ibm pc/at (it is actually an ibm rt or rs6000) some 8
 JM>> years ago), he cam over to my office a few months latter
 JM>> and discovered after an hours use he picked up some 30 wpm
 JM>> in corrected typing speed .. he replaced every keyboard in
 JM>> his organisation.
 MR > I couldn't agree more about keyboard utility.  Though I've never
 MR > used a mainframe or RS6000 terminal.
then you have missed a real treat, the new lexmarks are not as good as the 
ld
ibm keyboards, they are about 30 percent lighter but still retain the same
external dimentions. it is the density of the material and the associated
structural rigidity that provide the muscular support need to resist thigs
like rsi at al.
 JM>> it is still possibel to get good keyboard, the ones made by
 JM>> lexmark for the ibm ps2 machines are not to bad, well thier
 JM>> costs indicate some of the corners that we cut, they are
 JM>> about $aud350 i was fortunate enought o get two with a fire
 JM>> damaged computer, the keybpards were
 MR > I'm afraid I don't know the current exchange rate to put that in
 MR > Yank terms, but I got this one for $35 a while back.
about $AUD50
looks like thier is a name premium associated with 'lexmark', the exchange 
rate
is $AUD1.66 will buy $USD1.00, someting like that, usd are expensive in
australia at the moment
 MR >   Been
 MR > pounding away for years and years on it.  No problems.  My only
 MR > complaint is that I can't find a hex wrench anywhere that will
 MR > fit inside the screw holes far enough to grip the screw head,
mine ae slotted hex heads, if you haven't a hex driver, well i suppose if 
you'd
seen the slot you would have used a screwdriver.
 MR >  so
 MR > I can't take the damn thing apart and remove the debris which
 MR > has been accumulated.
mine get vacum'd regularly and taken down once a year to get washed, warm 
soapy
water (real oldfashined soap not this new fangled detergent crap, ther is a
big difference) then soaked in alchol (methalated spirits is ok) and oven
dried, a very very slow oven .. make sure it starts from cold, gas ovens are
not a good idea as a freind of mine discovered, much to his gas ovens 
surprise.
ps, this technique works well on erratic motherbaords (peripheral cards too) 
as
well, especially new ones, they may just have not been clean properly at the
productionline  .. a usual problem with the cheapies.
 JM>> oops sorry about the rambling, its that time of day again
 JM>> .. cheers
 MR > I can ramble with the worst.. er.. best of them :)
well, well, sonny, here is the line in the sand care to try your hand, er
mouth, grin
cheers
Jonathan
... i do what i can, with what i have, are you able to say the same ?
--- GoldED/386 3.00.Beta3+3022
(3:712/808)
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